Definition of mammoth

1: any of a genus (Mammuthus) of extinct Pleistocene mammals of the elephant family distinguished from recent elephants by highly ridged molars, usually large size, very long tusks that curve upward, and well-developed body hair

Beginning with the Asian elephant, the mammoth's closest living relative, the idea was to isolate the differences between the two animals' DNA, engineer elephant tissue into mammoth tissue, create an embryo and bring it to term.

Many belong to extinct species, including mammoths, mastodons, enormous cats, short-faced bears, camels, tapirs, American lions, horses, javelinas and an odd, rhino-looking species belong to a family called Toxodontidae.

In fact, Viegas reports that evidence for modern humans producing and working with tar doesn’t appear until about 70,000 years ago, over 100,000 years after Nenderthals were using the stuff to help them take down mammoths.

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mammoth.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The Blazers' mammoth center started strong, swishing a couple jumpers and finishing a cutting layup during the game's first six minutes, and kept it up most of the night, making 12 of 20 shots in 29 minutes.

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mammoth.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.